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As patriotic Americans I think we would all like to say yes. However, as is evidenced by American shopping habbits, the American label may have a small influence but the checkbook is the great dictator.

Besides, how do you qualify "American" cars. Is it the one with the American name? Or the one that is actually assembled in the USA? Or the one designed in the USA and assembled elsewhere. Or...

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My proxy for "american car company" or not is "where does the CEO of the company live?".
I was struck by a recent entry in the questions-about-cars column in this paper, where the reader was asking for permission to buy a nice Ford sedan that was $15000 less than a hum-drum Lexus counterpart. It wasn't the checkbook at issue, but whether it would too embarrassing to be seen buying something other than the conventional, even predictable, "luxury import", even if the domestic car was obviously the best value. There seem to be many years of habitual behavior to unlearn.

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Christopher:It's all relative! Even if "American car companies are turning out great cars, truck, and SUVs," the measure that counts is not how 2009 American cars compare to 2000 American cars. The measure that counts is how great the 2009 American cars are, RELATIVE, to the 2009 alternatives (foreign cars). In this measure, the foreign cars almost always come out ahead.

I strongly agree with you that American cars are much improved over the last several years. Unfortunately, so are the foreign cars, which started at roughly the same point and have improved at a much better rate...

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Robert, keep in mind that it is not an unearned reputation that the American cars have. As recently as the 1980's, foreign cars were considered jokes. Most Americans wondered who would buy a car made by the company that makes lawnmowers, Honda. The American car manufacturers decades of monopolistic reign caused them to take advantage of their customers little by little as the companies slid down that slippery slope. Once people realized that foreign cars were far superior to the American cars, the consumer's demand for cars naturally shifted to the better choice. It is only in the last 5 years or so that the American car manufacturers have tried to regain their lost throne with massive marketing campaigns and some effort to improve their cars. The real problem seems to be the American auto industry dealing with the mistakes THEY THEMSELVES made! The American people DO have a preference for domestic cars, however for equal quality, this preference is worth at most a 5-10% premium price over the alternatives. The American consumer's preference for quality, reliability, innovation, technology, and trust are valued at more than that 5-10% price premium... as shown by car sales figures.

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I will not purchase any car made by UAW--which has become primarily a partisan political organization (along with many other unions), rather than an organization that represents employees in dealings with their employers.

To purchase a UAW built car is to support the Democratic party. First, I don't purchase cars to support a political party. Second, I happen to believe that the Democratic party is bankrupting our country, taking away our freedom, and corrupting and even killing or children. I will not support those statements here, because that is not the point of a car forum. (Besides, they have the advantage of brevity, but not of nuance :-)

My only point is this: when a car company, or its union, becomes partisan, and takes sides in the culture war, there are consequences. How these consequences will work out for UAW, Government Motors, or others, I do not know. I only know this: I've heard UAW's message, and understand it--they don't want me as a customer. Roger that.

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VW, as well as some other German car makers, have had some quality problems--especially concerning electrical problems. That is not the same thing as longevity though. That is, a car may have a greater frequency of repair, and yet last longer because the basic engine, frame, etc. is built better. Diesel cars have a long history of lasting longer. Also, the German cars have been working on frequency of repair also.

I do not regard the VW as a lower quality car--and I certainly don't view it as a lower quality car as compared to a UAW built car.

I do wish that it was built in the US by a non-UAW plant. (It was assembled in Mexico.) It was not, but a lot of other good cars are.

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Seriously? Ford utilizes over 15 foreign countries in supplying the parts that build their cars/trucks, GMs number 1 supplier is from Shanghai. Nissan motors are built in Mexico. There are more US parts in Toyota vehicles than the "big 3". Just because we slap them together here, lets not forget every piece of every car goes to the country that provides the part with the Competitive Advantage. It is, and will continue to be the flavor of the month for each part that goes into the vehicle. Sorry, we don't manufacture the actual parts in the US, we just assemble them here, sometimes.